Buy New Mac Pro or wait and possible update in 6 months?

[jjahshik32]

Jeezus, that's all I hear from you people,

I Want, I Want, I Want!

So, you have to do as I do...

Do some more paper rounds (daily news paper delivery, door to door, on a bicycle), and save up the money!

I have two on the go at the moment, outside of my normal hi-end/wall street video graphic design job *COUGH* (65K per year).

And they're both up hill....!!

No matter how much money I save even if I have enough money in the savings already with the additional 6k to spend for the mac pro.. I still cant justify myself to pay that much for the 2.66ghz or 2.93ghz!

Its not the money.. its just me.

 

[Keniff]

No matter how much money I save even if I have enough money in the savings already with the additional 6k to spend for the mac pro.. I still cant justify myself to pay that much for the 2.66ghz or 2.93ghz!

Its not the money.. its just me.

True, and as mentioned in a few other threads, you only see a 10% difference.

 

[ccuk]

These Mac Pro updates are a joke.

I am intrigued by the 8 core chips. Two 8 core chips in a Mac Pro would certainly be a welcome update if the supposed benefits in Snow Leopard to utilise that many cores actually exist and work as advertised.

They are expected at the end of the year.

 

[Tallest Skil]

These Mac Pro updates are a joke.

I am intrigued by the 8 core chips. Two 8 core chips in a Mac Pro would certainly be a welcome update if the supposed benefits in Snow Leopard to utilise that many cores actually exist and work as advertised.

They are expected at the end of the year.

Beckton is also expected to be $4,000 at its cheapest. Still want it?

 

[Pika]

Dont buy these machines now! Wail till Steve Jobs come back. He might bring surprises.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Dont buy these machines now! Wail till Steve Jobs come back. He might bring surprises.

Is Kool-aid refreshing even in the early springtime? I'm just curious.

Seriously, the OP is off his rocker and anyone telling him to wait belongs in the same category as the guy who refuses to buy a new MacPro because the case wasn't redesigned.

 

[ccuk]

Beckton is also expected to be $4,000 at its cheapest. Still want it?

Nice sarcastic response, totally unnecessary given 16 cores vs 8 cores is clearly going to see a performance boost. Not to mention the hyperthreading, so 32 simultaneous threads on a 16 core machine vs 16 on the 8 core machine. That is a performance increase worth paying for. This current interim update which is merely to transition onto the Nehalem architecture is a joke.

Still don't want it?

Is Kool-aid refreshing even in the early springtime? I'm just curious.

Seriously, the OP is off his rocker and anyone telling him to wait belongs in the same category as the guy who refuses to buy a new MacPro because the case wasn't redesigned.

Waiting for 16 cores is in no way the same as crying over the case being the same.

Buy an older 2008 Mac Pro at a discounted price, or wait for the 16 Core behemoth that is due to arrive later in the year/early next year is my advice.

 

[Tallest Skil]

Buy an older 2008 Mac Pro at a discounted price, or wait for the 16 Core behemoth that is due to arrive later in the year/early next year is my advice.

They're not GOING to use Beckton, Gulftown has SIX cores per processor, not eight, and Westmere won't even be out until Q2 2010 at the earliest!

 

[Quu]

According to Intel they will be ready to roll by Q4 2009 with 8 Core processors (16 threads with HT). We can expect Apple to ship these in Q1 2015.

When Intel showcased its code-named Nehalem microprocessor at Intel Developer Forum Fall 2007, the company indicated plans to ship its eight-core Xeon microprocessors in 2008.

“At the largest configuration that we'll ship in 2008, they'll be an eight-core product. Eight core on one die, and each core will have two threads. So, each eight-core die will be supporting 16 threads,” said Paul Otellini, chief executive officer and president of Intel Corp., at that time.

See that big 2008 there? - Are they really going to delay it 2 years? no. 2009 Q4 is the current estimate.

 

[ccuk]

They're not GOING to use Beckton, Gulftown has SIX cores per processor, not eight, and Westmere won't even be out until Q2 2010 at the earliest!

To be perfectly honest that is not what I am reading/hearing, unless you have personal sources inside Intel.


And Apple will use Beckton if they have any sense because it is a big step up in terms of memory bandwidth, cache and speed.

 

[Tallest Skil]

To be perfectly honest that is not what I am reading/hearing, unless you have personal sources inside Intel.

Um... Gulftown has been said to only have six cores, Westmere itself is being pushed back... I don't really know how to validate this any more than this, because it is simply common knowledge.

And Apple will use Beckton if they have any sense because it is a big step up in terms of memory bandwidth, cache and speed.

Well, Apple must have no sense, then, because they have never used any of the 7xxx series before.

They never used Tigerton or Dunnington. They stayed with Clovertown and Harpertown.

Apple doesn't use the -tons. Apple uses the -towns.

And they're using the 3500 series for some reason now. That's a step in the OTHER direction.

Oh, also...

I'll be hanged before I believe that customers will be duped into purchasing DDR3 FB-DIMM2 RAM.

 

[iMacmatician]

we will not see another update of any sort whatsoever to the actual hardware of the machine until Westmere in Q2 2010.

Bingo.

And even then we have to consider the possibility of it being a minor update like the Clovertown update.

To be perfectly honest that is not what I am reading/hearing, unless you have personal sources inside Intel.

What are you reading/hearing then?

See that big 2008 there?

I believe that it was a misquote on Otellini's part (my word choice here isn't that good), at least that's what I heard the day after the IDF. And Beckton has always had a H2 2009 release date. Now it may be Q1 2010.

And when will we see 8-core EP CPUs (the ones that the Mac Pro uses / will use)? Both Westmere (2010) and Sandy Bridge (2011) EPs will be 6-core. Haswell (2012/2013) will apparently start at 8 cores.

 

[longball11]

wow u expect too much already

 

[Willis]

...snip..
I waited what felt like a long time for the original Mac Pro to come out since I wanted an Intel machine and could afford to wait the little extra time for it to come out. And the machine was top-of-the-line for quite a while too. In fact it still doesn't feel very old.

I have to agree here. My original Mac Pro I bought in October 06 and it still performs just as well as it did back then. Admittedly, it does need a Ram upgrade, it's just getting round to it!

Just buy now. It will feel amazing for years to come

 

[Digital Skunk]

It's always best to buy Apple products just after they're announced. They won't drop prices until the new spec bump and who knows when that could be. Also, Apple got these processors from Intel before ANYONE else got them. They're brand-spankin' new! Best time to buy is now!

Right. For the reason you mention above, and also because The former machines go on the refurbed market. So, one can buy new now, or buy old with a plentiful supply of machines that were top notch a few hours ago.

Is Kool-aid refreshing even in the early springtime? I'm just curious.

Seriously, the OP is off his rocker and anyone telling him to wait belongs in the same category as the guy who refuses to buy a new MacPro because the case wasn't redesigned.

This is also very true. Besides the fact that the OP should buy one model or the other RIGHT NOW, waiting is just going to have users spilling into "Official waiting for ___________ Mac Pro threads" where people gripe about not having an update three weeks after a new release and not having a case redesign so the Mac Pro can have cup holders and options for pink and clear panels.

As for the 16 core and 32 core debate. What looser really thinks they will be using such power NOW? I can tell you know, that I am a poor media production guy and I T A X the hell out of quad core Mac Pros with 16GB of RAM and so forth and so on.

Having 8 cores with HT would be right what I need, right now, and along with the promises of snow leopard I'd be set for another 4 years. Skip all the 12 and 16 core mumbo jumbo unless you are folding...... space/time that is.

 

[Quu]

Bingo.

And even then we have to consider the possibility of it being a minor update like the Clovertown update.

What are you reading/hearing then?

I believe that it was a misquote on Otellini's part (my word choice here isn't that good), at least that's what I heard the day after the IDF. And Beckton has always had a H2 2009 release date. Now it may be Q1 2010.

And when will we see 8-core EP CPUs (the ones that the Mac Pro uses / will use)? Both Westmere (2010) and Sandy Bridge (2011) EPs will be 6-core. Haswell (2012/2013) will apparently start at 8 cores.

If all that is true then its sad because the Mac Pro will be seriously behind everyone else. Other OEMs and self builders will have 8 core XEON's in there machines before Apple.

 

[Tallest Skil]

If all that is true then its sad because the Mac Pro will be seriously behind everyone else. Other OEMs and self builders will have 8 core XEON's in there machines before Apple.

Yeah. Behind. Because people go out and buy Beckton machines like they're candy corn.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

No disrespect to the OP....but what number would make you "feel good"? Its a completely different architecture so its comparing apples (no pun intended) to oranges. At least wait for the Barefeats comparison to look at the tasks that you need done and then decide.

I'm jumping in because I tired of the single frame rates while playing Wow and the wait with the iPhoto and iMovie stuff we do. A lot of peoples' livelihoods depend on their Mac's.....I just depend on it for my eff off time, which is as important to me as the time I put in at work.

My $.02

You're buying a Mac Pro for iMovie, iPhoto and WOW? oh jeeze....

 

[Digital Skunk]

Yeah. Behind. Because people go out and buy Beckton machines like they're candy corn.

HA!!!!! goes along with the guy TuffLuff is quoting.

You're buying a Mac Pro for iMovie, iPhoto and WOW? oh jeeze....

I just ignored this statement brother.... there's no hope for posters like that.... besides, they will most likely pull the , "I have the money, I do what I want! " argument out.

 

[Tallest Skil]

I just ignored this statement brother.... there's no hope for posters like that.... besides, they will most likely pull the , "I have the money, I do what I want! " argument out.

The founding fathers said that those with the power to make a change have the responsibility to do so.

And aren't these people the reason we're in this global financial crisis?

It is our duty to force them to see how idiotic their mindset is.

 

[Quu]

Yeah. Behind. Because people go out and buy Beckton machines like they're candy corn.

I guess I'm out of touch with the recent advances in the xeon line. Why is Intel pushing the 8 core date back so far?

 

[Tallest Skil]

I guess I'm out of touch with the recent advances in the xeon line. Why is Intel pushing the 8 core date back so far?

Beckton is a very, very small percentage of sales. It's a specialty market for the highest-end servers.

We've never seen a 7xxx series Xeon in a Mac Pro, so we won't see Beckton in the Mac Pro.

Now, I can't believe that I'm the first to notice this, but the XServe was NOT updated, even silently.

Could we see a Beckton XServe? Probably not.

 

[Quu]

Perhaps the XServe is proving a challenge temperature wise?

 

[Digital Skunk]

The founding fathers said that those with the power to make a change have the responsibility to do so.

And aren't these people the reason we're in this global financial crisis?

It is our duty to force them to see how idiotic their mindset is.

HA! Very true, and yes, these bastards did cause the economic crisis, and worst yet tried saying that it was the average consumer's desire to buy on credit things they couldn't afford/save money that they actually earned that caused it...

Beckton is a very, very small percentage of sales. It's a specialty market for the highest-end servers.

We've never seen a 7xxx series Xeon in a Mac Pro, so we won't see Beckton in the Mac Pro.

Now, I can't believe that I'm the first to notice this, but the XServe was NOT updated, even silently.

Could we see a Beckton XServe? Probably not.

The Xserve is also a specialty market for high end Apple users that just want a rack mountable Mac Pro with a few server based options. So I also doubt there will be such a high end chip in the that machine.

 

[iMacmatician]

If all that is true then its sad because the Mac Pro will be seriously behind everyone else. Other OEMs and self builders will have 8 core XEON's in there machines before Apple.

Beckton is in a different market from Gainestown.

Beckton is for the EX segment, where Tigerton and Dunnington were/are. A PC maker who did not go for Tigerton/Dunnington is not likely to go for Beckton. And yes, these CPUs have lately had more cores than lower-end CPUs. Plus I doubt many "self builders" will want to go for CPUs that, as Tallest Skil says, will cost over $4000 eek. That's $16,000+ for just the 4 CPUs. I think there will be cheaper Becktons, but they are likely to have reduced cores/cache. Even with Dunnington, only the top-end model ($2721) has all 6 cores and 16 MB L3 cache.

Gainestown and Gulftown are / will be for the EP segment, where the Mac Pro (and those Dell workstations everyone is pointing to) is right now. These chips are the successors to Woodcrest, Clovertown, and Harpertown, all used in the Mac Pro and the Dells.